BATTLE THIS DISEASE

Life-Saving Innovation

Our team at the Ohio State University is working on making a clearer picture - literally - of the heart in muscular dystrophies.

The goal is to identify the earliest signs of the heart muscle injury, before muscular dystrophy patients develop any symptoms of heart disease. Earlier recognition can allow initiation of medications that are proven to preserve heart muscle function and reduce the risk of heart failure or abnormal heart rhythms down the road.

Funding has led to two full-scale double-blind drug trials led by Dr. Subha Raman.

The DMD Trial in Practice

RUN MRI SCAN ON HEARTS OF BOYS WITH DMD ONCE A YEAR

CONFIRM STATUS OF THEIR HEART

PRESCRIBE EXPERIMENTAL HEART MEDICATIONS

STUDY AS MUCH DATA AS POSSIBLE TO DEVELOP TREATMENT PLANS

Dr. Raman led a team of DMD experts at multiple sites that tested the combination of the drug eplerenone and either an ACE inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker to decrease the progression of heart muscle disease. They based this trial on their earlier lab findings that showed this combination of medicines reduced muscle damage and preserved function.

After 12 months of starting the study medicine, patients in the eplerenone treatment group had significantly less decline in left ventricular function than in those on placebo.

Additional work has proven that spironolactone can help prolong the health of the most important muscle, the heart. This is great news because the leading cause of death in those with MD is heart failure.

Understanding the Medicine

​The video below explains how the trial at OSU uses two drugs that have been on the market for decades in a new way.​To read the official listing of the initial trial, visit ClinicalTrials.gov.

"This could quickly become standard of care for patients with DMD."

Dr. Subha Raman

MMD, MSEE, FACC, FAHA

​Dr. Raman is a cardiologist and professor of internal medicine, biomedical informatics and radiology at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.

​Upon joining the faculty of Ohio State in 2002, Dr. Raman built a research team supported in part by the National Institutes of Health dedicated to innovations in cardiovascular research that provide earlier detection, more accurate diagnosis, and personalized treatment of cardiovascular disease, focusing on heritable heart and vascular disease.

Dr. Raman credits Ballou Skies with the speed of the trial's impact. “This research progressed much faster thanks to their support," Raman says, "The work we have accomplished in just a few years would have taken a decade or more if we had to seek funding from traditional grant mechanisms alone.”